Introduction:
By the end of World War II, Germany and Japan were defeated, but the alliance between the US and the Soviet Union had deteriorated. Without a common enemy, these two countries found it difficult to work together. As the Soviets vowed to support communist revolutions around the world, the US adopted a policy of "containment" to contain communism within Eastern Europe. As the two superpowers competed for global influence, another Red Scare swept the nation. Persuaded by the promise of the American Dream, many Americans embraced their conservative side after so many years of New Deal leadership.
Major Topics & Events:
Terms to Know:
"duck and cover" drills, fallout shelters, House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), McCarthyism, Hollywood Blacklist, Alger Hiss, Julius and Ethel Rosenburg, National Security Act, National Highway Act, Taft-Hartely Act, AFL-CIO, conservatism, GI Bill, baby boom, suburbs, "Levittowns," "car culture," Sunbelt migration, white collar jobs, multinational corporations, National Defense Education Act, consumerism, nuclear family, Dr. Spock, television, conformity, beatniks, inner cities, urban poverty, New Left, rock-n-roll, counterculture, Haight-Ashbury, Woodstock, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS),De jure segregation, Warren Court, Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Little Rock Nine, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), civil disobedience, Montgomery bus boycotts, sit ins, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), freedom riders, March on Washington, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Twenty-fourth Amendment, Black Power Movement, Black Panthers, assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy, 1968 riots,The Feminine Mystique, second-wave feminism (women's "lib"), National Organization for Women (NOW), Equal Rights Amendment, Roe v. Wade (1973), Stonewall Riots, United Farm Workers (UFW), American Indian Movement (AIM), Silent Spring, Clean Air and Water Acts, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), New Frontier, Great Society programs,Ho Chi Minh, Ngo Dinh Diem, Vietcong insurgence, USS Maddox, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Operation Rolling Thunder, "Americanization," napalm, Agent Orange, Tet Offensive, My Lai massacre, "credibility gap," "hawks" and "doves," Election of 1968, "Vietnamization," Cambodia/Loas, Kent State shootings, Pentagon Papers, New York Times v. US (1971), 26th amendment, Paris Peace Accords, War Powers Act, Fall of Saigon, "realpolitik," detente, SALT talks, Helsinki Accords
Introduction:
Before the Watergate scandal, Nixon was likely to earn a reputation as a successful leader and somewhat moderate president. Shortly after his re-election in 1972, however, the story broke, and Nixon's involvement in dirty politics eventually led to his resignation in August, 1974. As the country struggled with a loss of confidence in its leaders, it also struggled with a stagnant economy - a recession combined with a continued rise in prices (inflation). The next two presidents, Nixon's VP Gerald Ford and then Democrat Jimmy Carter, would have limited success as they struggled to manage the poor economy and tense Cold War politics during the 1970s. In the 1980s, Americans continued to divide along conservative and liberal lines. President Ronald Reagan laid the groundwork in the 1980s for a limited federal government, an end to communism in the Soviet Union, and government support of traditional and religious values. As America shifted into a new millennium, everything seemed to change as politics, economics, and culture began to take a more global shape.
Major Topics & Events:
Terms to Know: NIXON - "Culture wars," "silent majority," "southern strategy," Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (1971), New Federalism, stagflation, Vietnam, Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Yom Kippur War, energy crisis, OPEC, Food Stamp Program, Title IX, Watergate, executive privilege, United States v. Nixon (1974);CARTER - Department of Energy, National Energy Act, Three Mile Island, Camp David Accords, University of California v. Bakke (1978), affirmative action, airline deregulation, Sun Belt migration, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 1980 Olympics boycott, Iran Hostage Crisis;REAGAN/BUSH - Reaganomics ("supply-side" or "trickle-down"), New Right Coalition, national debt, Challenger disaster, Gay Rights Movement, immigration reform, Rehnquist Court, Texas v. Johnson (1989), Americans with Disabilities Act, 27th amendment, AIDS epidemic, Lebanon invasion, Lybia bombing, Iran-Contra affair, "evil empire," Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), glasnost and perestroika, fall of the Berlin Wall, end of Soviet communism, Tiananmen Square protests, Persian Gulf War, famine and civil war in Africa;CLINTON - New Democrat, NAFTA, information technology revolution, NASDAQ, US v. Microsoft (Settled 2001), McCain-Feingold bill, Contract with America, welfare reform, Lewinsky scandal, end of South African apartheid, al-Qaeda attacks;BUSH II - Gore v. Bush (2000), Graying of America, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, war on terror, Department of Homeland Security, US Patriot Act, Taliban, Operation Enduring Freedom, WMDs, Bush Doctrine, War in Iraq, "axis of evil," nuclear proliferation
3.3 Conflict & Change (1945-1975)
Readings:
Textbook Chapters 22-26
Rodney King CNN Documentary
Feminism and the Glass Ceiling
Introduction:
By the end of World War II, Germany and Japan were defeated, but the alliance between the US and the Soviet Union had deteriorated. Without a common enemy, these two countries found it difficult to work together. As the Soviets vowed to support communist revolutions around the world, the US adopted a policy of "containment" to contain communism within Eastern Europe. As the two superpowers competed for global influence, another Red Scare swept the nation. Persuaded by the promise of the American Dream, many Americans embraced their conservative side after so many years of New Deal leadership.
Major Topics & Events:
Terms to Know:
"duck and cover" drills, fallout shelters, House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), McCarthyism, Hollywood Blacklist, Alger Hiss, Julius and Ethel Rosenburg, National Security Act, National Highway Act, Taft-Hartely Act, AFL-CIO, conservatism, GI Bill, baby boom, suburbs, "Levittowns," "car culture," Sunbelt migration, white collar jobs, multinational corporations, National Defense Education Act, consumerism, nuclear family, Dr. Spock, television, conformity, beatniks, inner cities, urban poverty, New Left, rock-n-roll, counterculture, Haight-Ashbury, Woodstock, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), De jure segregation, Warren Court, Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Little Rock Nine, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), civil disobedience, Montgomery bus boycotts, sit ins, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), freedom riders, March on Washington, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Twenty-fourth Amendment, Black Power Movement, Black Panthers, assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy, 1968 riots, The Feminine Mystique, second-wave feminism (women's "lib"), National Organization for Women (NOW), Equal Rights Amendment, Roe v. Wade (1973), Stonewall Riots, United Farm Workers (UFW), American Indian Movement (AIM), Silent Spring, Clean Air and Water Acts, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), New Frontier, Great Society programs, Ho Chi Minh, Ngo Dinh Diem, Vietcong insurgence, USS Maddox, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Operation Rolling Thunder, "Americanization," napalm, Agent Orange, Tet Offensive, My Lai massacre, "credibility gap," "hawks" and "doves," Election of 1968, "Vietnamization," Cambodia/Loas, Kent State shootings, Pentagon Papers, New York Times v. US (1971), 26th amendment, Paris Peace Accords, War Powers Act, Fall of Saigon, "realpolitik," detente, SALT talks, Helsinki Accords
Watergate:
Frost/Nixon Interview Clip
Frost/Nixon Film Clip
Ken Hughes, "Above the Law"
Proclamation 4311
Vietnam:
Changing Interpretations of the Vietnam War
The Fog of War (Wikipedia entry)
Afghanistan Obama's Vietnam (Newsweek)
War on Terror Is Obama's Vietnam (Economist)
3.4 Recent Events (1970-2008)
Readings:
Textbook Chapters 27-29
Introduction:
Before the Watergate scandal, Nixon was likely to earn a reputation as a successful leader and somewhat moderate president. Shortly after his re-election in 1972, however, the story broke, and Nixon's involvement in dirty politics eventually led to his resignation in August, 1974. As the country struggled with a loss of confidence in its leaders, it also struggled with a stagnant economy - a recession combined with a continued rise in prices (inflation). The next two presidents, Nixon's VP Gerald Ford and then Democrat Jimmy Carter, would have limited success as they struggled to manage the poor economy and tense Cold War politics during the 1970s. In the 1980s, Americans continued to divide along conservative and liberal lines. President Ronald Reagan laid the groundwork in the 1980s for a limited federal government, an end to communism in the Soviet Union, and government support of traditional and religious values. As America shifted into a new millennium, everything seemed to change as politics, economics, and culture began to take a more global shape.
Major Topics & Events:
Terms to Know:
NIXON - "Culture wars," "silent majority," "southern strategy," Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (1971), New Federalism, stagflation, Vietnam, Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Yom Kippur War, energy crisis, OPEC, Food Stamp Program, Title IX, Watergate, executive privilege, United States v. Nixon (1974); CARTER - Department of Energy, National Energy Act, Three Mile Island, Camp David Accords, University of California v. Bakke (1978), affirmative action, airline deregulation, Sun Belt migration, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, 1980 Olympics boycott, Iran Hostage Crisis; REAGAN/BUSH - Reaganomics ("supply-side" or "trickle-down"), New Right Coalition, national debt, Challenger disaster, Gay Rights Movement, immigration reform, Rehnquist Court, Texas v. Johnson (1989), Americans with Disabilities Act, 27th amendment, AIDS epidemic, Lebanon invasion, Lybia bombing, Iran-Contra affair, "evil empire," Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), glasnost and perestroika, fall of the Berlin Wall, end of Soviet communism, Tiananmen Square protests, Persian Gulf War, famine and civil war in Africa; CLINTON - New Democrat, NAFTA, information technology revolution, NASDAQ, US v. Microsoft (Settled 2001), McCain-Feingold bill, Contract with America, welfare reform, Lewinsky scandal, end of South African apartheid, al-Qaeda attacks; BUSH II - Gore v. Bush (2000), Graying of America, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, war on terror, Department of Homeland Security, US Patriot Act, Taliban, Operation Enduring Freedom, WMDs, Bush Doctrine, War in Iraq, "axis of evil," nuclear proliferation